The worst thing that happened for Kelvin Ransey was being traded by the Trail Blazers to Dallas after the 1982 season.

Then again, it could also be considered the best thing.

Favorite Blazer memory

In December of 1980, we won 13 games, but there were two in particular that I remember: One at the Lakers, when they had Magic and Kareem, and another at home against Philadelphia, on a lob pass with one second left. Those memories were great.

The bad part about the trade for Ransey was that he liked it in Portland. As a slashing, high scoring point guard, he had found a cohesion with backcourt mate Jim Paxson, as well as big men Mychal Thompson and Calvin Natt.

"I really thought we had a good team, with good chemistry," Ransey said. "If they would have built around us, I felt they could have had a championship-caliber team in a couple of years. But for some reason, they felt the need to trade me. I never did understand it, to this day."

He was traded to Dallas for center Wayne Cooper and a draft pick that ended up being Terry Porter.

In Dallas, the quick point guard never felt wanted. After one season he was traded to New Jersey, where he got lost in a logjam of guards that included Michael Ray Richardson, Otis Birdsong and Darwin Cook.

"I lost my juice for playing," Ransey said. "I lost my love of the game."

He retired from the NBA at 27.

But that's where his story gets good. After retirement, Ransey went into the ministry, and he has been a pastor in Tupelo, Miss., for the past eight years.

"It was in the last year of my (NBA) career, I felt a strong calling," Ransey said. "It wasn't anything spectacular, like lightning bolts, but more like a strong urge to go into the ministry."

Still, he looks back at Portland as the best times of his career. Within his first month as a rookie, he beat out incumbent Ron Brewer for the starting job. He would go on to record 555 assists that season, then a franchise record.

He averaged 15.2 points and 6.9 assists as a rookie, and was one vote shy of tying Utah's Darrell Griffith for Rookie of the Year.

"I felt I should have won Rookie of the Year, but I probably didn't have the exposure," Ransey said. "Our team went to playoffs and (Utah) didn't. I feel I got robbed on that one."

His second season, Ransey increased his scoring to 16.1, and matched his franchise record 555 assists. But coach Jack Ramsay wanted a more pass-first point guard, and the team began to favor its new rookie, Darnell Valentine.

"They started drafting point guards, and somebody had to go," Jim Paxson recalled. "But the year Kelvin came in, my career kind of took off. We both kind of played off each other. He was fun to play with."

Ramsay said he felt Ransey's game began to deteriorate after the first season. Still, he says he remembers Ransey hitting big shot after big shot.

"He made a lot of game-winners for us," Ramsay said. "He could do everything well. He didn't turn the ball over a lot, and although he wasn't a good shooter, he made a lot of big shots."